So-called multistory battery/cage installations (e.g. DE-AS No. 19 66 385) normally consist, today, of narrow cages in which the animals stand up on a screen-like floor through which the dung can fall, but on which the eggs can roll off and, usually, be guided to an egg conveying contrivance arranged on the front side of the cages, while the dung is conveyed off via appropriate dung conveying contrivances. These types of cages do not correspond in the least to the usual environment of the animals, so that the laying performance of the animals is also impaired by this.
In the case of so-called nest installations, it has become known as in DE-PS No. 11 59 208 how to form the nests by means of containers whose floor sides are formed by a conveying means on which the chaff lies, so that the animals, when they are in these cages, sit on the chaff and, in this fashion, as in the case of natural support, scratch and can build their nest, thus sitting in the chaff warm and protected. Additionally, the chaff protects the eggs.
The task set forth for the invention is to obtain a nest installation displaying the advantages of the usual type of laying nests, as are for example described in DE-PS No. 11 59 208, but which, simultaneously enable a large accommodation of hens, as is made possible through means of the usual type, multistory battery/cage installations.